New deadly virus, Hantavirus, re-emerges in China, kills one

As the world is battling Coronavirus which originated in Wuhan, China, another deadly virus called Hantavirus has re-emerged in the Asian country killing one man in Yunnan Province.

According to Global Times, the man died while on his way back to Shandong Province for work on a chartered bus on Monday.

The paper said the deceased was tested positive for hantavirus, adding that other 32 travellers on the bus were tested.

Hantavirus has been in existent for years and it causes severe respiratory disease. According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome are fatigue, fever and muscle aches, especially in the large muscle groups.

Others are cough and shortness of breath, with the sensation of a tight band around the chest as the lungs fill with fluid.

About 38 out of 100 cases lead to death.Hantaviruses are found in rodents. Humans get infected when they breathe aerosolised virus shed from the excreta, urine and droppings of rodents.

Human to human transmission is rare and was reported in 2009 and 2015.“In Chile and Argentina, rare cases of person-to-person transmission have occurred among close contacts of a person who was ill with a type of hantavirus called Andes virus,” the CDC reports.

The Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome has no specific cure just like the Coronavirus. But if patients are diagnosed early, they are treated symptomatically in the Intensive Care Unit.